Best of 2007

This doesn’t follow a pattern really. Some sports & things are discussed that have different categories that I enjoy more than the traditional lists. I was trying to mix it up a little. It’s just the topics that came to my mind when re-hashing the year that was 2007. If you don’t like it you can kiss my ass. Happy New Year to you all…

National Sports-

Best NBA player- Lebron James. I know Dirty Dirk Diggler won the MVP but he wasn’t the best player last year in the association. He had a great regular season, which is why he won the MVP and I get that. Howeverrrr, LBJ had almost as equal a regular season as Dirty Dirk and had an exceptional playoff run, something Dirk didn’t have thanks to G-state. This kid (yes he’s still a kid) has been hyped more than any athlete we’ve seen. He was on the cover of ESPN the magazine in high school for God’s sake. Yet, year after year he seems to get better and get more tattoos. If anyone can match the Big O’s triple double season average it’s Lebron. He’s so good and so fun to watch. I don’t do the whole “he’s the next Jordan” thing because I don’t like it. There is only one Jordan and it’s looking we might be saying the same thing about Lebron. There’s only one Lebron…


Best NBA story- Robert Horry’s body check against Steve Nash. We didn’t have a Melee or a crazy new rule by the commissioner this year to debate but Mr. Stern’s decision not to overrule a ridiculously stupid formality rule was the best story in my mind. This caused a genuine uproar with 99.9% of people taking the same side. To suspend two players that were crucial players (this factors in, I don’t care what anyone says) for taking 3-4 steps towards a fallen teammate in a human reaction type movement was ludicrous. This is the playoffs for fuck’s sake. He played the whole “a rule is a rule” card but get a clue! Horry went NHL on Nash and Amare & Diaw reacted humanely but nothing happened one bit in the end. Yet you couldn’t use your power to step in with some flipping common sense and assess the situation rightfully? Come on! Surprise, surprise San Antonio won the next game and eventually the series. Bad play David, bad play.

Best NFL team- New England Patriots. With respect to the Colts who won the Superbowl last February, the Patriots just finished a 16-0 regular season that is almost an impossible feat in my mind. Billy boy might be an arrogant prick but he knows how to coach football. He’s been the dominator in the 2000’s and this season is over the top. The last 3-4 games they’ve had some “trouble” but the first 11 weeks of the season they were on cruise control. Is this the best team ever? I think so but it’s hard to compare past teams to current teams. If they go 19-0 how can’t you pick them?

Best NFL game- Indy vs. New England- AFC Championship game. There were a few pretty hyped games in the 2007 regular season but none beat the AFC Championship game last year. One of the better games I’ve seen in years. With New England’s undefeated run this year it seemed like all the big games revolved around them. However, the Dallas, Indy and Pitt games didn’t measure up. But last January’s AFC title game was unreal. 38-34 in favor of Peyton Manning & company. The main image from this game was watching Manning sitting alone with his head down on the bench while Brady tried a late game comeback.

You know he was saying prayer after prayer. Brady ended up throwing a pick that finally got the monkey off Peyton’s back for winning a big game and the Colts eventually went on to winning it all.

Best NFL 3rd year guy- Braylon Edwards. Every list is always “best NFL player,” which involves the same people: Brady, Manning, LT, Ray Lewis, Moss, Owens, etc... But picking the best 3rd year player is more of a hoot. It’s that magical year that players seem to breakout especially the wide receiver position. This year it rings true with Edwards getting the nod. This guy was awesome at Michigan and then went to a lowly Browns team that no one cared about. He was outside the radar until a no name QB Derek Anderson brought life back into that football team. Braylon and his sweet beard have reaped the benefits. You put him on a big market team and he’s 20 times more known. But his stuck in Cleveland that doesn’t rock.

Biggest MLB story- Mitchell Report. This could have been a lot bigger if the ex-senator George Mitchell had any subpoena power but he didn’t. He only received names from pretty much two guys. Either way this was still a very damaging report. To no ones surprise Mr. Potato Head Barry Bonds made the list as did another future hall of famer, Roger Clemens. The word around the baseball insiders is that this was about half of the people that are doing them. Hopefully this report pulls Selig’s head out of his ass and strengthens the testing policy so we can finally clean the game up. Please.


Best MLB game- This one is easy. It had to be the one game playoff between the Rockies and Padres at the end of the season. Colorado ended up winning the game 9-8 in 13 innings. I don’t think anyone outside of the San Diego area was rooting for the Padres to win that game. Colorado was the hot story that went on that ridiculous run to even get to a one game playoff and ended winning in 13 innings. Like I said, this one was easy.

Hottest NHL player’s wife/girlfriend- Sean Avery. He plays for the New York Rangers and currently broke up with this lassie below in August 2007 but he still gets the nod for dating the “girl next door” for a least a little bit. Here she is:


Best NHL player- Sidney Crosby. Also known as “The Next One or Sid the Kid.” He won the scoring title and MVP last year in his second year as a pro. He’s one of the few hockey players in the league you can actually pronounce. Half of these guys it hurts to even try to say their names. Not Crosby. He’s a machine on the ice that’s easily recognizable. Oh yeah, he was born in 1987.

Local Sports-

Coolest Viking coach- Eric Bieniemy. Look, he’s the running back coach who gets to work with All Day Peterson. Not a bad gig. Also, he had one of the better Chris Bermanisms back in the day. Eric “don’t get caught sleeping with” Bieniemy. And since Omar Epps, I mean Mike Tomlin left, Bieniemy takes this prestigious award.

Best Viking rookie not named AP- Sidney Rice. Minnesota’s own “Sid the Kid.” Taking another South Carolina receiver left everyone a little doubtful on how good he could be. We were suckered into thinking Troy “speedy Gonzales” Williamson was the replacement to Randy Moss. After the millions of dropped balls and a Nike vision trick that didn’t work, Troy Boy sucks ass. Thankfully, Sidney Rice doesn’t. His stats aren’t that sweet but you can tell he has NFL receiver potential.


Best Viking individual performance- AP vs. San Diego. I couldn’t go much longer of a “best of 2007” without mentioning Mr. All Day Peterson. He’s the shit and 90% of Minnesota men have a severe man crush on this guy. Well, at least I do. I’m closer to 30 than I’d like to be but when I got an AP jersey for Christmas I was legitimately excited. Anyways, his record setting day when he ran for 296 was easily the best individual Viking performance. Here is a highlight reel of that game. The last touchdown around the 3:30 mark is fucking awesome. Check it out.

Best Twin Piranha- Alexi Casilla. Let’s get this out of the way: this whole piranha thing is gay. I hate it. These “little engines that could” type players having a nickname and marketing it. Are you kidding? No wonder we don’t make the World Series. Well, I have to pick one of these fruitcakes as the best piranha. It was a hard pick because out of Punto, Tyner, Ford, Rodriguez and Casilla there is about 1 ¾ of a ballplayer total in that group. Casilla wins be default because he doesn’t suck as much as the other chodes.

Best Twin Player- Torii Hunter. This is no surprise here. You might be saying to yourself, what? With Mauer coming off a batting title, Morneau off of an MVP and Santana off another Cy Young picking Hunter would have been a hell of a call. I’m not saying I did but the stars were aligned for Hunter this year and I should have known. Actually one star was aligned: contract year. Hunter has never been shy about admitting he’s always dreamed about getting a big contract. Being an unrestricted free agent after years end was his best & last chance at getting a fat paycheck. Finished with the highest batting avg. on the team and second in HR’s & RBI’s which led to a lot of coin from the Angels.


Best T-wolves story- KG getting traded. It’s not my favorite story but it's definitely the best. Last years season was one of the most boring and pathetic seasons by a basketball team in history. They were a mediocre team that only hung around in games if KG played really well. Watching Mike James walk the ball down the court, lobbing it into KG who would either shoot or pass to a shitball like Ricky Davis to shoot was a worthless offense. The only thing that kept your interest was the slew of KG rumors toward the end of the season. It was apparent that McHale wasn’t going to surround him with talent so they needed to bottom out. Even though the meat grinder that was the process of the KG trade was hard to watch it was very compelling. Similar to the Johan trade stuff now...

Best hated T-wolves player- Ricky Davis. I don’t know where I heard it but this line puts it well: “His name should be Rick Avis because he has no D in his game.”

Best Wild playoff game- Game 4. To avoid a sweep the Wild came out firing in game four to win 4-1. That’s not even the whole story. The story in that game was Derek “Bogeyman” Boogard threatening the whole Ducks bench at the end of the game for a cheap shot earlier. It was truly amazing. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I think the Bogeyman would have fought the whole team like Neo did against the Agent Smith’s in “The Matrix.” This youtube clip captures it a little bit.

Entertainment-

Best show- LOST. Personally, I thought the best show I saw was season three of LOST. Everything built up to the finale that was a two-hour dandy. It was like watching a two-hour perfect highly entertaining movie. It was done so well and they completely flipped everything (spoiler alert) with the flash forwards. It’s been three seasons and I’m pretty sure they haven’t answered a single question yet. It is one of the most debatable shows I’ve ever watched. I also enjoy shows more if they have an ensemble cast. The more people the more stories. LOST has great characters from Jack, Sawyer, Locke, Sayid, Hurley, Ben, Kate, etc... Can’t wait until it comes back in a few weeks...


Best TV character- Anyone from the Wire. I’m serious. Pick one...anyone. It’s the most real TV show on television and it’s not even close. It’s a huge ensemble cast and you’ll recognize about 10% of the faces. However these no-names are very good at their craft and are what make the show so real. I’ve never been so sold on acting performances in any other TV/movie shows. I truly believe these actors are these characters they play and don’t want to see them any other show. It would ruin it.

Best Movie I saw- SuperBad. I thought “Knocked Up” was overrated and I think “SuperBad” is underrated. As far as raunchy 10th grade humor goes, this takes the cake. It’s not going to win any movie awards but this movie is really funny... “Yeah, that’s funny...like nuts...that’s funny.”

Best Movie character- Anton Chigurh in “No Country for Old Men” played by Javier Bardem. He better win a fucking Oscar. Period.

Best Country song- Lost in this Moment. Is it kind of girly? Yes. Is it kind of sappy? Yes. It is a good song? You bet. But it comes from Big & Rich and not a Faith Hill type. Rascal, Kenny and Paisley all released new albums this year but I thought this song pound for pound was the best I heard.

Hottest music newcomer- Rihanna. This Barbados native is pure gorgeousness. She’s only 19 and she dates white guys. Good news for most if not all the writers and readers from TKOT. Plus her “Umbrella” hit single was one of the biggest guilty pleasure songs of the year.


Finally...

Best Blog- Deadspin. Great reads everyday.

Best Breakout blog- TK on Toast. Obviously.